We have
the delightful pleasure of posting a chat between Out of Print author, Sampurna Chattarji and her father, Chandak
Chattarji.
Mr
Chattarji recently published what must surely be a wonderful aid to all
writers, Get a Grip on English Grammar
with Scholastic Publications. We await our copy, and do recommend that as many
of you as possible get a hold of your own. Although I am not sure if Mr
Chattarji would agree, as editors, we say, break the rules in your writing if
you must, but take control of that radical step and know what those rules
are!
We are
most grateful to Sampurna and to Mr Chattarji for sharing this marvellous conversation
with us.
Sampurna’s
story that appeared in Out of Print is called Just Looking.
A freewheeling
conversation between father and daughter:
Chandak Chattarji (CC) chats with Sampurna Chattarji (SC) about his journey as an English teacher in
India and Africa, his relationship with the two languages in his life, and the
motivation behind his new book: Get a Grip on English Grammar (Scholastic, June 2015) published at the
ripe old age of 80-plus, in the aftermath of two cardiac failures in 2013 and
shifting cities in 2014.
CC: The motivation for
the book was simply to do something with the material that I had created and
accumulated over the years. Original new material which I always prepared for my
classes as a way of keeping things fresh for myself and for the students. I never
had formal Lesson Plans, but thinking about what I was going to teach the
following day led me to shape the exercises that I would then use in class on
any particular day. At times, as the exercise books filled up, I used to wonder
what was going to happen to all that material. I was creating it, using it and
then putting it away in the drawer of my desk! It never occurred to me that these could find
a place in a full-fledged book.
SC: And that’s when I
butted in! I was clearing out my dad’s desk in my parents’ flat in Kolkata
prior to shifting them to be near me in Thane when I came across stacks of red
and yellow long ruled notebooks filled with my dad’s meticulous handwriting. Inside
I found all kinds of exercises, which I knew he’d been using to teach students,
but I had no idea there was so much of it! It seemed horrific that they should
just moulder. I typed up three sets of exercises, and mailed them to my editor
at Scholastic, Tina Narang, asking if she’d be interested in publishing a
grammar workbook. She wrote back at once, saying, yes, and that was how it
started. Also—and this is something I haven’t said to you before, Baba—I
thought this would be just the kind of thing to give us all a fillip. After the
traumas of the last year everything had become so uncertain, and the idea of
helping you get this book out was one way of giving us, as a family, something
to look forward to and something concrete and positive to work on.
CC: Once the contract was
signed, I sat down and made selections from the reams of stuff already there
and also started writing brand new material in the shape of comprehension
passages, questions, as well as creating word games etcetera for the back of
the book.
 |
| CC peruses a copy of his book that reached him on Father's Day |
SC: While I began typing
up what was already there. I have always been aware of my dad as a strict
grammarian! So I personally was terrified of making mistakes when typing out his
book! I had to ensure that Baba checked and cross-checked everything. He has invariably
been the first reader to spot any typos in my books. Each time a book of mine
has gone to press I’ve wished I could get him to read it through, but I didn’t
want to torture him with extra work! So of course he would read each book once
it came out, and spot the typos! I still remember how he found a really ghastly
blooper in my first novel Rupture. I
am very obsessive and paranoid about typos and there was just one in Rupture, but it was a bad one that had
escaped all of us (me, my editor, my copy-editor). I still remember the day Baba
called me on the phone and said, “On Pg 75 it says ‘You are tell they are
family’ instead of ‘You can tell they are family’”! I still remember the horror
of not having spotted that in all my read-throughs! And he never softened the
blow when pointing them out (unlike my mom who would say, “It doesn’t matter,
the reader will know it’s a typo and not you not knowing how to write”)! Luckily that blooper has been corrected in
the recent reprint of Rupture. So, anyway
I have a fear of typos but at least in my fiction the context of the line would
hopefully alleviate the mistake and communicate what I meant, despite the error.
But for the grammar workbook, where the students’ learning was at stake, any
mistakes in proofing on my part would be simply unforgivable. So my fear of
typos gained epic proportions, especially when keying in the answer-section! For
me, the most gruelling part of an otherwise delightful and life-affirming
project was going through the proofs. Of course, Baba cross-checked everything
twice so I’m hoping it’s gone into the world entirely typo-free.
So the question I want to ask you, Baba, is—and maybe it’s a
really silly one because you’ve taught English all your life—but I’ll ask it
anyway: How come you have such a strong grounding in grammar?
CC: Because I went to one
of the-then best schools: Baldwin’s in Bangalore, where English was taught
extremely well. That’s the stage when English became such a part of me. And then
when we moved to Santiniketan several of the things I did there were on account
of my proficiency in English. Santiniketan gave me the opportunity of bringing
out multilingual manuscript magazines (in Hindi Bengali English). Also, as the
secretary of the English Literary Society I came in contact with Geoffrey
Kendal and members of his Shakespeareana Company which included stalwarts like Utpal
Dutt. I remember going to receive them at Bolpur station of behalf of the
university. I have never forgotten their performance of Macbeth in the moonlight. When the three witches were chanting ‘Double,
double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble’ the lights went out and
the actors continued the rest of the play in the moonlight! It was magical. I
myself acted in English plays, Bernard Shaw’s Androcles and the Lion and of course, Shakespeare. Our English professor
directed them. The Head of the English Department was an Englishman, Mr Roy B North.
His elocution was excellent and we had a very good relationship. He later went
on to head Orient Longman.
SC: So strange coz your
first publisher for an earlier educational book (A Comprehensive English Language Course) was Orient Longman!
CC: Yes. And then when I
went on to Calcutta University to do my post-graduation I was lucky enough to
have had the best of teachers: SC Sengupta, who was an authority on
Shakespearean comedy, the legendary PK Ghosh, and the founder of the Workers’ Party,
Jyoti Bhattacharjee, who was taken away by the police in the middle of a class
for his political leanings. I had taken up journalism classes in the evening,
but the whole day was free and that’s when I started teaching and never
stopped.
SC: And unlike me whose
strength is clearly English, you are excellent in both languages! Does it
disappoint you that I don’t write in Bangla, and that as a kid I was never too
keen on reading all the Bengali classics that you suggested?
CC: No.
SC: So it’s a
misconception I’ve harboured for all these years! And one that led me to being
so secretive about translating Sukumar Ray. I never told you’ll I was doing it
until the proofs arrived! How did that feel?
CC: Surprise is not the
word! It was much stronger. I was amazed—how could you, who never spoke Bangla
without using some words of English, translate Sukumar Ray so well! I think
it’s the best translation ever.
SC: And I think that’s
just you being a proud father!
CC: The word ‘pride’ has
taken on a new meaning for me when I see your work.
SC (blushing!): But tell
me, Baba, what is it like when you move from Bangla to English? What do you
feel for each of these two languages that you love, and write your poetry and
prose in?
CC: I think separately in
each language. I don’t translate in my mind from one to the other. I feel
differently towards each language. At times I start writing in English and then
realise that piece might work better in Bangla. Banglay likhle khoob bhalo lagey. And English comes very naturally.
Often what happens is I feel the deficiency of English when writing. In Bangla,
one word can have different shades of meaning and you can’t find an equivalent
in English. For example, ‘onubhuti’ conveys experience and feeling, yes, also
intuition or realisation, but none of those are adequate by themselves, rather
it’s a combination of all these meanings. Sometimes I think that this piece works in
English and not in Bangla and vice versa.
SC: You’ve translated a
short story by Jibanananda Das ‘Chhaya Nat’ (‘Shadow Play’). What impelled you
to translate that, rather than his poetry which I know you love?
CC: After reading that
story more than once I felt it has to be translated and reach a wider audience.
‘Chhaya Nat’ is most unlike the usual short story and reads like a poem. I did
several versions before I arrived at the final one. I did try translating
‘Bonolota Sen’ and another poem ‘Hai Cheel’ but was not happy with my own work.
The originals are outstanding and I decided to let them be.
SC: I’ve tried translating
‘Bonolota Sen’ myself, done several versions and realised not even one matches
up to the original so I understand. To
get back to your experience as a teacher, tell me what some of the highlights
were?
CC: Getting a job at La
Martiniere, Lucknow was one.
SC: And the favourite
place you taught in?
CC: St Paul’s,
Darjeeling.
SC: Weren’t you the first
Indian teacher to teach English there?
CC: Yes, teaching the
Sixth Form (Class 12) English.
SC: I remember, as a kid,
that you were involved in all kinds of literary activities with your students.
I remember opening the door to tall Sixth Formers asking for laung to soothe
their sore throats during play-practise, I remember another guy who came home
to practice ‘To be or not to be’ sitting on a mora in our living room!
CC: Yes. I enjoyed all
that. The Paulite Pool was our wall
magazine, I typed that up, it comprised contributions by students and teachers
(mostly me!).
SC: Then wasn’t there a
magazine called Peeping Tom?
CC: Yes. I remember the
student editor, a Sri Lankan boy named Aftab Jafferjee who was very
enthusiastic. As a House Master, Hall Master etcetera apart from teaching I had
so much work, we only brought out one issue of Peeping Tom—it was a magazine with humour at its core.
SC: A pity you didn’t
keep a copy of it for the family archive. To my mind, Baba, St Paul’s was very
anglicised. You were involved in house concerts, plays, elocution, debating,
all of which were in English. But didn’t you also act in a Bengali play?
CC: Yes, your Ma and I
both acted in a Bengali play written by a colleague.
SC: I have memories of
going back-stage after the show, there’s a photo of Dadu (Ma’s father), my
elder brother and me. Dadu had come up to Darjeeling from Siliguri just for the
play. So, Darjeeling was where I grew up. We went there when I was a little
over one year old? You had just come back from Ethiopia, where I was born. What
made you go to Africa?
CC: I first got an offer to
teach in Ethiopia in 1961, at the same time as the Lucknow job at La Mart’s. Since
both my brothers were abroad at that time, one in England and the other in
America, I decided to stay at home and accepted the La Mart’s offer. But when the chance to go to Africa came
again in 1968, I took it. At that time I was teaching in Sikkim at Tashi Namgyal
Academy.
SC: What was it like,
teaching in Ethiopia?
CC: One challenge I faced
consistently over my 3 years there was the students’ lack of interest when it
came to studying English, specially grammar. That’s when I first started
creating grammar exercises, typing them out and cyclostyling them for the
students. They didn’t have a set textbook so my material became the basis of
their curriculum. The material for my first book (A Comprehensive English Language Course) I assembled while in St Paul’s.
I also did an abridged version of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd for Orient Longman. That’s out of print
now. For the Comprehensive English
Language Course I had four sections: Language Exercises, Letter Writing, Comprehension
and Essay Writing. So for this new book, I was clear that it needed to be very
different in style and content. Get a
Grip on English Grammar is a workbook in which the students can test
themselves by doing exercises that will reveal how well or badly they have
internalised the basics of grammar learnt in school.
SC: The working method
for this book was different because in the first one you typed everything on
your trusty Adler typewriter and this one I keyed in for you on your trusty IBM
ThinkPad! Normally you would have typed it yourself, but I wanted to save you
too much exertion in your recovery phase! So, any words of advice to the
students who might use your book?
CC: Only this—don’t
cheat, don’t fool yourselves. I’ve said this in my Introduction to the book: if
they consult the answers that are given at the end before attempting the
exercises on their own, they’ll only be doing themselves a dis-service! The
answers are there only to cross-check if they’re right or wrong. There are no
short cuts to learning.
SC: Having the book out
at this stage in life, how does that feel?
CC: It feels good.
SC: And I’ve seen you
writing away in your different notebooks. What are you working on now?
CC: A series of
micro-stories. My writing speed has become slow, so I’m writing these very
short short stories.
SC: About?
CC: Some have a
supernatural slant. Some involve authors, literary characters. I’ve read some
out to your mother. She says they remind her of haikus in fiction.
SC: So maybe that’s the
next thing I’ll be typing up for you!
CC: I have already begun
typing them slowly on my laptop, one story every few days. But thank you—I’ll
keep your offer in mind!
Thane, June 30th 2015
